Word of Mouth: Using it to Your Advantage

In this series of articles on word-of-mouth advertising, we have looked at some of the numbers that support the statement that this marketing tool is one of the most powerful ones a company can use. This last installment in the series will examine how you can use word-of-mouth advertising to your advantage.

Refer to the statistics we outlined in our article on word-of-mouth and online shopping. Here, we saw that while all demographics tended to buy products supported by word-of-mouth over other forms, certain groups were much more likely to buy than others. What this says to us is that in order to really give your word-of-mouth campaign an edge, you should identify the demographic most likely to buy your product and then find endorsements from other members of this demographic.

The most standout statistic is with mothers, so we will use that demographic as an example. Say you are trying to market a babysitting company. This is obviously going to be beneficial, as generally it will be mothers looking to pay for this service, so you can streamline the entire campaign towards parents only.

On the other hand, you can also use the conversion factor to help sell products that don't appeal to mothers, at least not right away. For example, say you have a website or company that sells candles. Mothers are likely not your only target demographic, but that doesn't mean that mothers won't purchase your product or surf your site. You are likely to get a bite on your scented candles or other accessories if you include an endorsement from another mother. Try an angle that makes sense; a mother stating that she prefers your candles, as they are non-toxic or infant friendly. Odds are that any mothers looking for candles will purchase yours over a competitor's. This could even go for real estate. A mother looking at real estate listings might like to hear that there are good schools in the area. Or a family looking at a certain neighbourhood might want other kinds in the area for theirs to play with.

Take the information that we have given you on word-of-mouth advertising and use it to your advantage. This form of marketing is applicable and has been proven to work in any number of different scenarios, and you can put it to use selling your product as well. You just have to know who you are advertising to.